SIX BOOKS
OF THE
COMMONWEALTH
by JEAN BODIN
Abridged and translated by M. J. TOOLEY
BASIL BLACKWELL OXFORD
PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN IN THE CITY OF OXFORD AT THE ALDEN PRESS BOUND BY
THE KEMP HALL BINDERY, OXFORD
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
I. Biographical Sketch.
II. The Argument of the Six books of the Commonwealth.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.
THE SIX BOOKS OF THE COMMONWEALTH.
CONTENTS [The chapter numbers in brackets are those of the original French.]
PAGE
BOOK I
The final end of the well-ordered commonwealth [Chapter I] 1
Concerning the family [Chapters II-V] 6
Concerning the citizen [Chapters VI and VII] 18
Concerning sovereignty [Chapter VIII] 25
Concerning feudatory and tributary princes [Chapter IX] 36
The true attributes of sovereignty [Chapter X] 40
BOOK II
Of the different kinds of commonwealth [Chapter I] 51
Concerning despotic monarchy [Chapter II] 56
Concerning royal monarchy [Chapter III] 59
Concerning tyrannical monarchy [Chapters IV and V] 61
Concerning the aristocratic state [Chapter VI] 69
Concerning popular states [Chapter VII] 72
BOOK III
The council [Chapter I] 77
Officers of state and holders of commissions [Chapters II and III] 80
The magistrate [Chapters IV and V] 84
Concerning corporate associations, guilds, estates, and communities [Chapter
VII] 96
BOOK IV
The rise and fall of commonwealths [Chapter I] 109
That changes of government and changes in law should not be sudden [Chapter
III] 123
Whether the tenure of office in the commonwealth should be permanent
[Chapter IV] 128
Whether the prince should render justice to his subjects in person [Chapter
VI] 133
How seditions may be avoided [Chapter VII] 138
BOOK V
The order to be observed in adapting the form of the commonwealth to divers
conditions of men, and the means of determining their dispositions [Chapter
I]
How to prevent those disorders which spring from excessive wealth and
excessive poverty [Chapter II]
Concerning rewards and punishments [Chapter IV]
Whether it is expedient to arm subjects, fortify and organize for war
[Chapter V]
The keeping of treaties and alliances between princes [Chapter VI]
BOOK VI
The census and the censorship [Chapter I]
The revenues [Chapter II]
A comparison of the three legitimate types of commonwealth, popular,
aristocratic, and monarchical, concluding in favour of monarchy [Chapter IV]
That in a royal monarchy succession should not be by election nor in the
female line, but by hereditary succession in the male line [Chapter V]
Concerning distributive, commutative, and harmonic justice, and their
relation to the aristocratic, popular, and monarchical states [Chapter VI]